The Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) yesterday launched a plan to subsidize private sector on-the-job training programs to encourage training for employees instead of laying them off or forcing unpaid leave.
“This is a good time for [companies to provide] on-the-job training,” said Chen I-min (陳益民), director-general of the Bureau of Employment and Vocational Training.
Instead of layoffs or unpaid leave, companies can consider training their workers now when business is slow to prepare them for when the economy improves, he said.
The Plan of Promoting Employment Skill in the Short-term will subsidize between 50 percent and 100 percent of a qualifying company’s training costs, up to NT$950,000 (US$28,500) for medium to small-sized companies, and up to NT$1,900,000 for large companies. The council has set aside a budget of NT$2.7 billion and aims to help 200,000 workers with the plan, CLA Minister Jennifer Wang (王如玄) said.
The council will be taking applications now through Sept. 30 next year, and will evaluate the applications based on a first-come, first-served basis, she said.
Companies that have sought free business consultation services from the council’s Employment Stabilization Task Force may qualify for as much as a 100 percent subsidy, Wang said.
The task force was launched last month to counsel businesses that are considering mass layoffs. Comprised of council officials, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, local labor bureaus and experts in the fields of accounting, law and management consulting, the team aims to help businesses think of ways beside layoffs to lower costs during the economic downturn.
Since its launch, “10 companies have already been counseled, and six of them have agreed to scale down their layoffs or use unpaid leave instead,” Wang said.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
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